The United States trucking industry is facing a shortage of long-haul drivers and is seeking to hire large numbers of new, and often younger, truck drivers in the foreseeable future.
A long-haul trucker must spend extended periods of time away from family members, and that fact is a significant impediment to bringing younger drivers into the trucking industry and retaining them.
While wireless media such as a cellular telephone can provide a means of communication while a driver is on the road, such media may not be convenient to use in certain situations due to various distractions such as noise and may not fully satisfy a trucker's need to connect with a home that may be far away. Other wireless media can be complicated to use and even prohibitively expensive for many truckers.